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Key Discovery Points: Be a Team Player When It Comes to Production
Podcast - “I Lied Like a Dog!”
Law School Toolbox Podcast Episode 511: Listen and Learn -- Landlord/Tenant Law (Part 1)
Key Discovery Points: A Judicial Approach to Handling AI-Generated Evidence
Podcast - How Do You Define Success?
The Three C’s for Addressing Prior Inconsistent Statements
Understanding Discovery in Commercial Litigation
The JustPod: Defending the "Evil Genius:" A Conversation with Leonard Ambrose
Podcast - "Ready for Trial?"
Podcast - Every Case Is a New World
Law School Toolbox Podcast Episode 501: Listen and Learn -- Present and Future Estates (Part 1)
The JustPod: The King of Cross: A Discussion with Larry Pozner, a Leading Expert on Cross-Examination
Bar Exam Toolbox Podcast Episode 305: Spotlight on Civil Procedure (Part 2 – Discovery)
Eyes on the Evidence: Powerful Legal Presentations – Speaking of Litigation Video Podcast
The Presumption of Innocence Podcast: Episode 57 - Wired for Truth: The Art & Science of Polygraphs
Podcast - Parting Thoughts: Be a "Peddler of Common Sense"
Key Discovery Points: Timing Sweet Spots for Spoliation Motions
Key Discovery Points: Should Hyperlinked Files Be Treated as Modern Attachments?
Podcast: Are Legal Holds Protected by Privilege? Insights from the FTC's Battle with Amazon
When I first decided I wanted to become an attorney, I did not think about being in trial. Even in law school, I gave little thought about what it would mean to be in trial. Like a lot of people, my experience with being in...more
Litigation attorney Dan Small unexpectedly took the lead in prosecuting the high-profile case of the Farmers Export grain elevator explosion, a major incident in Galveston, Texas, that resulted in the deaths of 18 people in...more
Law firms are increasingly using technology to assist and optimize their litigation and trial processes, and this trend will almost certainly continue into the future. In particular, the use of external graphics technologies...more
Remote depositions took hold during COVID and continue to be common; one study conducted in 2021 found that while 87 percent of lawyers rarely or never participated in remote depositions before COVID, 83 percent expected to...more
Cross-examination is the stuff of drama in fictional courtroom depictions. The savvy lawyer taking on a hostile witness on the stand—these are the moments TV and movie audiences live for. However, the truth is real-life...more
Given how critical depositions are to the legal process, it stands to reason that fair deposition practices are paramount to a legal team’s success. However, several forms of unethical and unfair conduct can emerge during...more
It is common advice for witnesses in the courtroom or representatives at counsel table: keep a poker face. That advice — avoid scowls, grimaces, and other head-shaking reactions while you’re being observed by a jury — has...more
Three years of law school can teach us many things. But what they do not do very well—as we typically discover soon after graduating—is prepare us for the actual practice of law. For those of us who always planned to be...more
The blog post Turning Deposition No-Shows to the Client’s Advantage proved popular with our readers when written (2021!) and for years afterward. The sustained readership of that article is gratifying but also disappointing...more
First impressions are crucial—especially when you’re delivering an opening statement to a court of law, establishing and framing the crux of a case for judges and jurors when a trial begins. Clarity, conciseness, resonance,...more
Just what is it that wins a trial case? It’s not a simple matter of providing a bullet list of facts. The subject matter and fine points of evidence can be complex and difficult to follow, and the trial attorneys rarely have...more
When preparing for trial, depositions play a foundational role, critical to the discovery phase. After the deposition, having a succinct, accurate deposition summary is a strategic component of developing and refining case...more
In the courtroom, trial technology has emerged as a powerful tool for lawyers seeking to inform, engage, and persuade jurors. As attention spans grow shorter and jurors’ expectations for high-quality graphics increase, visual...more
Dismissal of a lawsuit is a rare sanction for a discovery violation, but it happened recently in a workplace discrimination lawsuit, due in large part to two probing depositions that called into question one party’s assertion...more
There is an adage that lawyers learn the version of the rules of evidence and procedure that are current when they are in law school and then do not look at them again. While that is (hopefully) an exaggeration, it is always...more
In the fourth episode of his "Ethical Witness Preparation" podcast series, "Finding the Balance," litigation attorney Dan Small draws a parallel between witness preparation and translating different languages. Mr. Small also...more
In the third episode of his "Ethical Witness Preparation" podcast series, "A Tortured Journey with the Lying Witness," litigation attorney Dan Small takes an in-depth look at a Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court Rule and...more
In popular culture, a trial often hinges on a single moment – an accidental admission of guilt or sudden epiphany from a budding lawyer. But when a matter heads to a final arbiter in the real world, a legal team will have...more
A civil jury trial is a risky proposition in any court, state or federal. To manage that risk, it is usually in each party’s interest to engage in some form of alternative dispute resolution, or ADR. Knowledge of the local...more
Opting for arbitration requires attorneys to balance efficiency and procedural protections. The implications of arbitration are something clients certainly have to carefully consider both when drafting arbitration provisions,...more
How do humans assess large sets of evidence? We start by simplifying and internally summarizing. One of the main ways we do that is to boil the information down to a limited number categories, usually two. For example, let’s...more
From a technological standpoint, it is now relatively simple to present live video and audio testimony during a court proceeding of a witness located anywhere in the world. There are many advantages to presenting testimony in...more
Doctors must educate themselves and particularly their staff on the legal obligations to protect the confidentiality of medical records and how to properly respond to subpoenas and requests for patients’ health information....more
With Labor Day right around the corner, the NFL is gearing up for the 2015 season. Fantasy football leagues are getting ready for another year of camaraderie, smack talk, and thoughts of a championship. Mention...more